Summary

Our Score

As we mentioned in our recent review of the Kodak ESP 9, all of Kodak's inkjet all-in-ones since it first entered the market have been based around the same print engine. That's true of the ESP 7, too, which is basically a cut-down version of the top of the range machine, without the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) the touch-screen control panel and fax.

This is a smart, good-looking machine, decked out in frosted and high gloss black. The scanner's top cover has smoothly rounded side edges and a simple pattern of inset squares in its lid.
The control panel swings out from the front and, although it doesn't have a touch panel, it does have the same size 76mm colour display. Here, though, it's an LCD panel, rather than the brighter OLED in the more expensive machine.

The arrangement of twin paper trays, one taking 100 sheets of plain paper up to A4 and the other taking up to 40 sheets of photo paper, is identical to the ESP 9's and works just as well, with automatic loading of photo paper when you request a photo print. At the back are sockets for USB 2.0 and Ethernet and the machine also has Wi-Fi built-in, which is unusual in a machine at this price.
Installation involves plugging in the two cartridges, one black and the other five-ink, including photo black and a transparent coating layer. The same software suite of Kodak HomeCenter, AiO Home Center and a driver governs the machine's functions. Wireless setup is surprisingly easy, as the ESP 7 searches for available networks and latches onto the selected one. Installing the software then makes the rest of the connection to your PC or Mac.

The print problems we noticed with the ESP 9 are visible on the ESP 7, too. There's that millimetre chopped off headers on duplex pages and the strange blocky fills to characters in our coloured headline. If you want to see what these look like, check out the ESP 9 review.